Kids’ Movies That Seem A Lot Sadder When You’re An Adult

Experiencing a gradual, but often sudden, change of perspective is part of growing up. It's why your elementary school seems impossibly tiny when you head back to vote. Or why your much older cousin, who was three whole grades above you, is now basically your age. And it's why the movies you watched over and over when Sunday mornings meant juice boxes, not Mimosas, look so different when you revisit them now.

While some moments from kids' movies will hit you hard at any age (see: the death of the parent of any adorably animated creature), others weren't quite as sob-inducing when you were 5 as they are when you're 25. When we return to these movies as adults, the child characters go from peers who are having bad days to little kids you really just want to hug. Rather than being aspirational, coming-of-age milestones become reminders of your own mortality. And sometimes you've gained just enough life experience to wallow in a movie's more maudlin moments.

The next time you agree to watch your niece or little cousin and plop down in front of a old classic, pack extra tissues. Because the movie you just have to share with them could come with more feelings than you remember.